Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a medical manipulator system having an operating unit with an input member operable to enter input actions, and a working unit having an end effector such as a gripper or the like mounted on the distal end of a shaft, the working unit being detachably mounted on the operating unit.
Description of the Related Art
According to endoscopic surgery (also called laparoscopic surgery), it is customary to form a plurality of holes or incisions in the abdominal region of a patient, insert trocars (tubular instruments) into the respective incisions, and introduce a laparoscope and a plurality of pairs of forceps through the trocars into the body cavity. End effectors such as a gripper for gripping a living tissue, scissors, a blade of an electrical scalpel, etc., are mounted on distal ends of the forceps. After the laparoscope and the forceps have been inserted into the body cavity, a surgeon actuates the forceps to perform a surgical operation while watching images of the inside of the body cavity, which are displayed on a display monitor electrically connected to the laparoscope. Since the laparoscopic surgical operation procedure does not require a laparotomy, the operation is less burdensome on the patient, and greatly reduces the number of days required for the patient to spend before recovering from the operation and being released from the hospital. Laparoscopic surgery is expected to increase the range of surgical operations to which it is applicable.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2008-104855 discloses a medical manipulator including a forceps to be inserted through trocars, such as forceps the distal ends of which have a plurality of joints that change the attitude of the distal ends, in addition to general forceps the distal ends of which do not have joints. The disclosed medical manipulator is capable of producing motions with high degrees of freedom within body cavities, thus making it easy for a surgeon to perform various surgical techniques, and is applicable to a wide variety of surgical cases.
The medical manipulator disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2008-104855 comprises a working unit including a distal-end working unit having an end effector and joints, and an operating unit having an actuator for actuating the distal-end working unit. The working unit is detachably mounted on the operating unit. While the working unit is mounted on the operating unit, drive power from the actuator is transmitted to the distal-end working unit in order to operate the distal-end working unit.
The working unit includes wires, for example, as power transmitting members. However, wires tend to deteriorate, e.g., become elongated, while in use, possibly causing the distal-end working unit to fail to operate properly. One solution would be to establish a certain upper limit for the number of times that the working unit has been used (usage count), and to forcibly disable the working unit when the usage count of the working unit reaches a preset upper limit (limit usage count). In this regard, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2008-104855 discloses that a usage count of the working unit may be stored and managed by a usage history management table.
However, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2008-104855 discloses nothing concerning a means for forcibly limiting use of the working unit when the usage count thereof reaches the limit usage count.